Methanol Sales Deal with German Firm

Iran’s Marjan Petrochemical Company has clinched a contract with a major German firm over sales of methanol produced at a petrochemical plant which will come on stream soon, an official said.

“Marjan is the first petrochemical company to have sealed a contract for sales of products with European companies,” Hassan Beigi, the managing director of the facility in Iran’s Assaluyeh energy zone said, according to Shana news agency.

He added the plant is 96 percent complete and will operate with a capacity to produce 1.65 million tons of methanol per year, with the feedstock coming from South Pars gas refineries.

Methanol is used as an antifreeze and in feedstock to produce acetic acid and formaldehyde. It has been tipped as alternative fuel in ships. In 2014, Japan and South Korea won the first orders to build vessels powered by methanol.

Germany’s BASF – the world’s largest chemical producer – has been cited by Iranian officials as planning to make an investment of $4 billion in Iran’s petrochemical industry. Munich gas manufacturer Linde is also reportedly interested in investment worth billions of dollars in the Iranian petrochemical industry.